We can’t go on a day without preparing and cooking food for ourselves and our family. When we cook, we make ready the things that we need in the kitchen, including ourselves as we are the ones who will prepare and do the cooking, the ingredients for the dish that we intend to cook, and of course, the tools and equipment to be used in the food preparation.
The most frequently utilized tools in the kitchen for food preparation are the kitchen knives used in chopping, slicing, mincing, or dicing any sorts of food ingredients. These kitchen knives come in different sizes and types. And each type is used for a specific food type and differs in style and uses.
Bread Knife
This kitchen knife is used explicitly in slicing or cutting all sorts of freshly baked bread and pastries. With its serrated edge in the blade, a bread knife make short work of cutting a loaf of bread. The sharp serrated edge of the bread knife’s blade is designed to cut through the crust or outer part of the loaf of bread without crushing or compressing its soft insides.
An average kitchen bread knife usually has a 20cm-length blade, long enough to slice through all shapes and sizes of bread and short enough to handle or control while using easily. It is essential to have a bread knife at home since most of us are fond of eating bread and other pastries such as slices of cake for snacks.
Chef’s Knife
The chef’s knife is the most versatile type of kitchen knife. It is suitable for chopping herbs and vegetables, mincing garlic, and slicing any meat types, including chicken, pork, beef, etc. You can also use it in slicing all sorts of fruits that you would like to prepare for dessert.
This kitchen knife usually has a knife size of 20 centimeters and a width of 3.8 centimeters. Its blade can be a German-style type curved along the whole cutting edge, or it can be a French-style type with a straight cutting edge that curves up to the tip.
Kitchen Scissors
The most suitable kitchen tool for opening a pack of ingredients without wrongfully tearing the whole package up is a pair of kitchen scissors. Kitchen scissors are way safer to use than most knives when cutting not too thick in shape food ingredients. They are manageable to use, especially in slicing herbs, cleaning shrimps, shredding cabbage, etc.
Cleaver Knife
You can easily distinguish a cleaver knife, among other types of knives, because of its shape. It is a large knife with a rectangular-shape blade and is used to cut or chop thick and large chunks of meat. It can also cut through soft bones such as pork ribs and chicken.
When you use this type of knife, you should be extra careful because it is also very sharp and heavy as it is large. It can be used in slicing hard vegetables and fruits such as squash, sweet potatoes, garlic, ginger, etc. It would be the best decision to have a cleaver knife at home so that you can chop and cut hard and thick ingredients easily and manageably.
Boning Knife
Want to prepare a dish of fish fillet for dinner? Start removing the bones of your salmon fish using a boning knife. A boning knife has a semi-flexible narrow blade with a sharp tip designed to cut and carve around the bones of all sorts of meat. You can also use a boning knife to carve your cake and cut your cookie dough into different shapes.
Paring Knife
A paring knife is a small and sharp multi-purpose knife that usually has a knife size between 2 ¼” and 4 ½”. It comes with different styles, including spear point, sheep’s foot, and bird’s beak. You can use this type of knife to cut, slice, chop small fruits and vegetables, slice through hard cheese, devein prawns, and mince garlic.
Peeling Knife
There is a particular set of food that needs to be peeled off its skin before consuming it. Fruits and veggies such as apple, pineapple, onion, squash, papaya, and others are among these sets. Peeling can be quite a task, but you can manageably do it if you use a peeling knife.
A peeling knife has a straight sharp edge with a pointed tip that curves downward. It is primarily used in peeling or removing the skin of fruits and vegetables. You can also utilize it in cutting decorative garnishes such as cherries, mushrooms, orange and pineapple slices, etc.
Takeaway
Life in the kitchen would be a lot manageable if you use proper tools and food preparation equipment. Since slicing, dicing, cutting, mincing, and chopping of ingredients is part of the food preparation process, it is essential to have these types of knives at home and know how to use them properly.
